A four-day ceasefire between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas came into force at 07:00, so that at 16:00 the release of the first 13 Israeli hostages of Hamas would take place in exchange for the release of an unspecified number of Palestinians who are prisoners in Israeli prisons.
At the same time, trucks with humanitarian aid will enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, aiming to bring some relief to the drama of the 2.3 million civilians who have suffered weeks of Israeli bombardment. At the same time, the relatives of the hostages who feared the worst for the fate of their loved ones who were captured during the Hamas attack are also anxiously waiting.
Just minutes after a four-day truce with Hamas came into effect, the Israeli army activated sirens to warn residents in two villages near the Gaza Strip, but no rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement's fighters have been confirmed so far. in the pouch.
Nevertheless, a flurry of Israeli attacks against hospitals, schools and camps among others took place overnight as 300 targets were hit in Gaza, but also in the West Bank where a 12-year-old boy was shot dead during incidents in Nablus.
Israeli forces will be stationed on the cease-fire line inside Gaza
Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said that the relatives of the 13 hostages have been informed that they will be released.
Gaza: "Seven-sealed" secret of the hostage delivery point
"These are going to be complicated days, nothing is final until it actually happens," he said.
Hours before the start of the agreed cease-fire, Hagari made it clear that his country's army "continues to fight in the Gaza Strip" and that during the cease-fire, Israeli forces will be stationed on the cease-fire line. inside the Gaza Strip.” Control of northern Gaza is the first step in a long war. We are preparing for the next stage", he added.
The long-awaited Gaza ceasefire agreement is the result of long negotiations between Israel and Hamas brokered by Qatar, and will include a comprehensive ceasefire in both the northern and southern parts of the strip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, vowed to continue the war after the truce ends to destroy Hamas' military capabilities, end its 16-year rule in Gaza, and to return all 240 prisoners held in Gaza by Hamas and other groups. "We will continue until we achieve all our goals," Netanyahu said.
Attacks on a school and a hospital – The director of Al Shifa was arrested and questioned
Israeli attacks continued late into the night mainly in Jambaliya, where a UN school where displaced civilians had taken refuge was hit. Thirty are dead and 93 injured according to Hamas. A total of 30 targets were hit.
Meanwhile, the director of Al-Sifah hospital, Abu Salmiya, was arrested and questioned by the Israeli authorities for the findings in the underground tunnels, under the hospital. According to international agencies, no charges have been brought against him.
The Palestinian health ministry said he and several doctors were arrested in the early hours of the morning at a checkpoint on the road connecting northern Gaza to the south, where Israel had directed Palestinians to evacuate the hospital.
The arrest, amid reports of the detention of other medical personnel, appears to have raised concerns among doctors about whether they can safely evacuate hospitals at the heart of Israeli military operations it claims have been used by Hamas as a stronghold, something the armed organization denies.
Earlier, the medical director of the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza told the BBC that the facility had come under heavy fire from Israeli tanks after heavy fighting had broken out around the facility. But he said there was no evacuation due to concerns that staff could be arrested.
Gaza: Four-day ceasefire in effect - Sirens sounded in villages, barrage of Israeli attacks at night
UN: Human suffering in Gaza unspeakable – We want to go in and start repairs
The head of the UN agency, Philip Lazzarini, said that the long-awaited four-day pause in the fighting would provide an opportunity "to reach out to people in need, including in the north, and to start repairing the civilian infrastructure."
Having just returned from his second trip to the Gaza Strip, he says he witnessed "unspeakable human suffering". "Since my first visit two weeks ago, the humanitarian situation has already gotten much worse," he said.
Gaza: Palestinian dead reach 15.000 - Over 6.000 children among them
He noted that the UN Refugee Agency (UNRWA) is now hosting more than a million people in its schools and facilities across the Gaza Strip.
Lazzarini repeated his call for "a long-term humanitarian ceasefire" and said Unrwa was ready to receive more than 150 aid trucks a day.
Today, 200 trucks with humanitarian aid and 4 with fuel are expected in Gaza.
Source: ertnews.gr